Culture

Why The Right Wing Is Finally Winning

The vibe shift is formidable. Are you feeling it yet?

By Andrea Mew5 min read
Pexels/Megan Ruth

If there’s anything we’ve learned from the 2024 Republican National Convention, it’s that the modern conservative movement is not your mother’s Republican party. Sure, the party is still older, predominantly white, and doesn’t shy away from potentially kitschy, overtly patriotic imagery. Yet there’s a growing number of young, passionate conservatives and those from various ethnic and racial backgrounds.

The universe always seeks balance. Once the progressive left flexed its stranglehold on most facets of modern life – from film and television to news media to the music industry to education systems to, well, all cultural institutions – it seemed as though hope for humanity could, perhaps, be lost. If you’re a doom-and-gloom kind of gal, that is. Your social media feed was probably filled with video upon video of drag queen story hours. 

But that divisive, spicy content isn’t representative of the entire nation. Now that the left successfully spent the last couple of decades pouring resources into open border policies, nanny-state legislation, and niche perversions, the very people the Democrat party sought to snag a vote from are turning their backs on it.

America’s leftward lurch awakened the proverbial sleeping giant in many of its residents and galvanized a strong sense of national pride and a return to the “traditional” values the nation once championed. 

The Shifting Goalposts of the American Left

Growing up, my basic understanding of the “left” was that it was the party that supported government intervention in the economy and an increase in public services. Boiled down to the bare minimum, I figured left-leaning politics wanted more economic regulation and government intervention to artificially even the playing field.

Naively, I didn’t think that was such a bad thing. It didn’t really occur to me that limited government intervention and free markets were what actually made for a thriving nation because I was carefully protected from conservative messaging. I was never exposed to the “other side,” and so, until I started getting personally involved in the political process (e.g. volunteering for the Bernie Sanders campaign in high school), I had a mistaken view of the right and, frankly, the left.

However, upon my journey into politics, I realized that left-leaning politics had a new priority: social equity and social justice. I didn’t really think much of it until it transmogrified and showed the progressive left’s true colors as radical Marxists.

Race Marxism re-emerged with the Black Lives Matter movement, a more marketable, easily digestible version of the radical Black Panther Movement from the late 1960s and early 1970s. After all, countless celebs could stick a black square on their Instagram feed and, therefore, become allies for racial justice and against police brutality. Surely, that did something meaningful beyond lining the pockets of race hustlers and reducing racial tensions, right? 

Woke Marxism re-emerged after the queer identity started to segment further, no longer simply referring to same-sex attraction and instead becoming an umbrella for all types of “genders” and “sexualities.” Surprisingly, by the time the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, many Americans – conservatives included – either weren’t opposed to men being in relationships with men and women being in relationships with women, or they just turned a blind eye and adopted a more agnostic take on the issue. 

But many are reconsidering any support of the “LGBT” movement now that many within it shamelessly target children and even advocate for the mutilation of their perfectly healthy bodies to affirm delusions.

Those are only a few of the leftward lurches. Many more have occurred in the past couple of decades, including loose-on-crime laws that have contributed to a distressing surge in crime. So, understandably, a large swath of the nation doesn’t want their streets to be overrun by junkies and criminals, their children to be prescribed hormonal experiments behind their backs, their careers to be threatened by DEI mandates, and much more.

The tides have turned. Average people are actually pretty reasonable. They keep their nose out of politics and spend their time engaged in work, family, and lighthearted hobbies. When they see their favorite football team taking a knee to support extremist movements, they feel isolated from the things that sweeten the deal of life.

One side preaches self-flagellation, while the other cries for a return to normalcy. Is it any wonder why ordinary folk have fled to the right?

The Remarkable Transformation of the American Right

Gallup reported last year that, for the first time in a decade, more Americans identified as “conservative” when it came to social issues. 38% said they were either “very conservative” or just “conservative,” while 29% identified as “very liberal” or “liberal.” While Gallup didn’t identify social issues for the respondents, the conclusion was nevertheless clear: self-described social conservatism in many shapes and forms is on the rise.

This doesn’t mean that conservative-leaning values are up across the board – after all, support for abortion is at an all-time high – but the right wing is finally winning because it’s getting back to its foundational, core ideologies. Unsurprisingly, “classical liberal” ideas appeal to millennials and Zoomers who were born into an era of unabashed, individual freedom of expression.  

Who is having more fun right now? Who has more joie de vivre and doesn’t think their existence on God’s green earth is cursed and devastating? Studies suggest that liberals are significantly less happy than conservatives, and that’s especially the case for liberal women.

People can numb their senses with endless streams of TikTok videos, decadent food delivered to their doors, and unapologetic free love, but after a while, the charm of distractions wears off, and people realize that distractions don’t lead to happiness. Psychological well-being and life satisfaction often hinge on the very things the progressive left works overtime to subvert, such as greater personal agency, strong family ties, transcendent faith beliefs, and healthy lifestyle habits.

Furthermore, the left lost its “cool” when the right realized how it could harness meme magic. Conservatives in the first Trump era embraced creative, lighthearted humor and championed authentic meme-making rather than out-of-touch pop culture callbacks. This phenomenon has trickled down into other facets of culture – look no further than Date Right Stuff for a perfect example.

If you told me four years ago that a right-wing dating app would regularly be going viral on TikTok for clever, pithy “hot takes,” I might not have believed you. But indeed, Date Right Stuff racks up millions upon millions of views on the short-form video app with quippy comebacks to left-of-center ideology, like the hypocrisy of men being able to identify as women while children can’t dress up as Indians for Halloween or the hypocrisy of mandatory identification to get on a cruise ship but not to vote.

The right, which used to be more uptight, decided it could push the boundaries and explore taboos.

Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that former President Donald Trump could easily be a stand-up comedian if he didn’t put his entire life on the line to become a boundary pushing executive-in-chief. He promised to oppose the very unsexy thing that young folks grew to hate: the D.C. swamp of politicians that talked with a forked tongue.

Today’s news cycle is updating at breakneck speed, so I’m sure any example I could point to may end up outdated within mere minutes, but I think one recent event that demonstrates how America’s conservative movement has the upper hand was what took place during the Republican National Convention (RNC).

Yes, addressing the elephant in the room, Trump’s assassination attempt shifted the tune of the nearly week-long convention. Still, the lineup of speakers and entertainers was unlike anything I had ever seen from the Republican party. My father-in-law even remarked how 2024’s RNC was “not my father’s RNC.”

Amber Rose of SlutWalk fame stood up at the podium and declared her support for Trump, bucking the notion that a Trump voter can’t also have a promiscuous, feminist past. Professional wrestler Hulk Hogan appeared as Hulk Hogan, not as Terry Bollea, ripped his shirt off and called Trump his “hero.” 

U.S. Senator J.D. Vance became the youngest vice presidential nominee in modern history – and the first to rock facial hair in quite some time, might I add. Trump's speech drew record viewers for a single cable channel during a convention.

Though billionaire Elon Musk voted for Biden in 2020, shortly after Trump was shot, Musk formally announced that he would support the Republican candidate. Republican candidates don’t easily snag celebrity endorsements, but even Lil Wayne, Snoop Dogg, Waka Flocka Flame, YG, Azalea Banks, and Kodak Black have endorsed him.

What happened to Russell Brand? Once a drug and sex addict, the comedian has been baptized and undergone a conservative transformation. He disavowed his hedonistic past and now speaks openly with top, right-leaning voices on his show, like Dan Bongino or Eric Trump, and is even joining Tucker Carlson on his 2024 tour.

Parsing Through Propaganda for Truth

It goes without saying at this point that radical progressives have abandoned truth. Over the years, people have covertly and overtly pushed false narratives that obesity should be celebrated, that diversity of opinion is problematic, that men can be women, and that humor shouldn’t push boundaries. That only scratches the surface of the sheer volume of propaganda we’re served daily by prestige media.

You know you’ve lost the so-called “culture war” when you slander gym-goers (you know, people yearning to improve their physical health and body composition) as alt-right Nazis or say getting fit “could turn you into a rightwing jerk.” 

Regardless of your personal thoughts on semaglutide, it’s telling that skinny has made a comeback. Weight-loss drugs are surging in popularity because people want to feel good, look good, and, as a result, be happier.

The right has a unique edge because it doesn’t deny the truth. Goblin mode, bed rotting, body positivity, victimhood complexes – people are growing tired of the pessimistic schtick and want the beauty and optimism back that our culture once had.

Remember when Top Gun: Maverick came out, and it drew such massive appeal that its theatrical release was extended and even brought back for limited releases? Two years later, Americans have a new, hit summer blockbuster that matched Maverick’s intrigue: Twisters

People are drawn to movies like this because there’s no ulterior motive. Twisters director Lee Isaac Chung even said, “I just wanted to make sure that with the movie, we don’t ever feel like [it] is putting forward any message. I just don’t feel like films are meant to be message-oriented.”

This is not to say that art shouldn’t have a deeper meaning. Depth just doesn’t have to have an aggressive political edge. But when radical progressives took the reins on pop culture, they dialed up the aggressive, political messaging. All that does is demoralize the masses, and now, as a result, Americans are burnt out on the left’s ugliness. They yearn for happiness and beauty – but only one side can promise them that.

Closing Thoughts

Some may say that the right is losing its identity, but if anything, it’s embracing true inclusivity and reaping the benefits. Former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley explained during the RNC that Republicans cannot only be unified but also expansive, saying, “We are so much better when we are bigger. We are stronger when we welcome people into our party, when we have different backgrounds and experiences.”

And how are they doing it? Rather than getting distracted by cancel culture and joyless rules, the right focuses on the issues. Americans genuinely want to be safe and happy – and one party can’t deliver on their promises to ensure that because their platform is lost in la-la land. 

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